


The Sound of Tech-no

by lantia4ever



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: DUM-E shouldn't be let near fire extinguishers, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Misunderstandings, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tumblr: imaginetonyandbucky, and is a really good dad to his metal family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 16:43:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14524911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lantia4ever/pseuds/lantia4ever
Summary: Bucky buys a robotic pet dog as part of his therapy and immediately goes to introduce the cute pup to (a mildly jealous) Tony - and the bots. And while DUM-E, U & Butterfingers are excited by the addition to their family, Tony finds a huge flaw in the toy's simplistic design that he takes it upon himself to fix.Cue a confused Bucky, a misunderstanding and (four) plotting bots.Written for the Imaginetonyandbucky Anon prompt: Imagine Bucky bringing Tony one of those new robotic pets (like BB-8 sphero or aibo) and DUM-E, U & Butterfingers LOVE them. Tony doesn’t know if he should be offended or happy, he just feels like one of those single moms who’s really happy when his boyfriend’s kid get along with her kid.





	The Sound of Tech-no

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! ^^
> 
> So while I am failing to resurrect myself after watching Infinity War...TWICE...I thought some more fluff is in order. There's officially never enough fluff now. So here we go <3
> 
> Enjoy!

 

 

* * *

“Hey, Tony,” Bucky greets him from somewhere behind him, sounding unusually cheerful.

“Morning sunshine,” Tony replies, hurriedly tightening the screw on the engine he’s working on so he can shift his focus on the man.

“Morning? ‘S more like afternoon, actually,” he chuckles.

That explains why he’s so hungry. “I missed breakfast?!” he whirls around, eyes wide.

“And lunch,” Bucky laughs some more. “Not a big deal…Thor ate all the pizza again, so there’s not much left. But! I saved a club sandwich for ya,” he grins, offering a plate to him.

Tony doesn’t pay any attention to the food, although it looks very inviting. Instead, he alerts to the uninvited guest sitting innocently next to Bucky on the floor.

“What…is _that_?!” Tony blurts out, staring between Bucky and the… _thing_ wagging its metal tail.

“Oh! This is uh, Tekno. The puppy dog,” he introduces the intruder, who barks happily at the sound of his name.

“I can see _what it is_ , but…what is it doing _here_?”

“Brought him to meet ya of course. T’was my therapist’s idea…said I could benefit from an animal companion,” he smiles, observing the metal dog.

Tony watches the scene, raising a curious eyebrow. “Uhhhm, I’m pretty sure he meant an actual animal. You know, a _living_ one; bones, flesh, fur, _needs_ – the whole deal.”

“Yeah, I guess. But I’m still kinda celebratin’ the fact I can take care of _myself_ …not sure if I’m ready to add another living being into the mix just yet.”

He would argue with that, knowing Bucky is well past that stage of his recovery. But from his own experience, he can understand the reluctance to take responsibility for something…or rather someone else while still unsure of his own state of mind.

“So I figured if DUM-E and the bots work for you, I could…try somethin’ similar,” he shrugs.

“And by something similar you mean…a barking, metal puppy.”

“It was JARVIS’s idea.”

“Of _course_ it was,” he rolls his eyes and looks up, expecting the AI to explain himself but JARVIS stays silent. _Figures_.

“And he can do a lot more than just bark. Look!” he holds up a finger and crouches. “Tekno? Paw!” he commands and the robot offers him his right paw with an excited sounding bark. The excitement is matched on Bucky’s face as he takes it with his flesh hand.

“Wow. A dog doing…dog things. Who would have guessed?” he says in a mocking tone.

“It _is_ a dog, Tony. Don’t need him to know nuclear physics or martial arts. Playin’ fetch is fun enough for me.”

“Uh huh,” he glares at the happy couple, making Bucky chuckle.

“Are you… _jealous_ of a lil’ robot toy, Tony?” he asks, smile turning into a grin.

“Jealous?! Of that thing there?! You can’t be serious. If anything, I’m offended by its…simplistic design and…limited functionality,” he stutters out and curses internally. 

Yep, he is jealous of a god damn robot toy. How pathetic.

But Bucky just laughs some more and gets up. “This is actually an older model…from like ten years ago? The most recent one looks much more uh, futuristic. And can do more stuff. But when I saw a picture of this one, I knew I just had to have it.”

“Really…why?” he squints at the dog, trying to see whatever it is Bucky’s seeing.

“Ain’t it obvious?” he crouches down again, moving his left arm next to the dog. “He matches my arm. And! The joints reminded me of your arc reactor. He’s perfect for me,” he smiles up at Tony with so much wonder, Tony almost backs up under the sheer power of it.

Giving it a second look, he has to admit the toy does in fact match both Bucky’s arm in the metallic aspect and Tony’s reactor in the blue-lit leg joints. It’s like…a weird, strangely cute combination of the two of them. Tony smiles despite himself and crouches down too. “So…what’s his name then?”

“Tekno,” Bucky shrugs, still smiling at the excited pup.

“That’s the name of the toy series; you can give him whatever name you want.”

“Tekno sounds cool. He even looks like a Tekno, doncha think?”

He sighs, letting his heart melt at the sight of his happy boyfriend and the…cute…barking puppy. “Yeah, sure. Tekno it is then.”

The new addition to the family and their collective focus on it of course doesn’t escape the rest of the metal gang. So while Tony’s trying all the different commands Tekno understands, DUM-E and U approach the three of them while Butterfingers extends his arm from across the workbench, all of them watching the scene in curiosity.

DUM-E sneaks next to Bucky, harmlessly poking Tekno with his claw.

“Whoa now, big guy. Be careful there with your…new sibling,” Tony warns the bot, that keeps on analyzing the dog with his built-in camera.

Tekno eventually reacts to a particular series of beeps DUM-E emits in his greeting frenzy and barks at him, but otherwise ignores the bots altogether. DUM-E is absolutely ecstatic anyway, rewarding the show with some happy beeping and even U rolls closer now that the big brother is done assessing the newcomer.

But that just won’t do in Tony’s opinion. He lets the bots – and Bucky – fuss over the dog and gets up, a new project already forming in his head.

* * *

A few days later, Tony descends into the workshop after an afternoon SI briefing and is greeted by a pair of gray, squinty eyes. They’re not the ‘you messed up big time’ squinty eyes – thank the gods – but something akin to ‘something’s going on here I just don’t know what…yet’ kinda squinty eyes.

“Bucky-bear! The love of my life! The Moon to my stars! The beat to my heart! The soul of my…soul!” he finishes off with a cringe, but keeps the grin plastered up. “What’s up?”

The former assassin loses the serious squint right after ‘Bucky-bear’ and fights a grin of his own in complete futility throughout Tony’s ridiculous greeting. “Tony,” he says almost like it’s a question. “My dear, lovely, _brilliant_ Tony…do you, by any chance, have any idea why my dog is turning more and more sentient with every day?” he asks patiently.

Tony looks down at Tekno, sitting like a portrait of innocence by Bucky’s right foot. “Uhm…maaaaaaaaybeeeee?” he drawls out, watching Bucky’s eyebrows raising at the confession. “I guess? Before you come to all the wrong conclusions,” he holds up his hands in defense, “I’m not turning him into another JARVIS or anything like that. I’m not even teaching him nuclear physics, I swear!”

Bucky nods a couple times, folding his hands over his chest. “So…what _are_ you doing? I said I liked him! As…simple as he was.”

“I _know_! I’m not trying to make him something he’s not, okay? It’s just…not fair.”

“What’s not fair? Other than you _upgrading my dog in secret_?” he asks and the hurt in those words threatens to rip Tony’s heart in more pieces than it already is.

“You’re coming to all the wrong conclusions now. Exactly what I was afraid of. Uhm…right, uhhh…please don’t kill me?” he blurts out, starting to panic a little. “Or, you know, worse than kill me? Like…leave? Or…hate me, or…”

“Tony! I’m not doing anything, just tell me wh - ”

“I thought it was unfair and sad that he couldn’t really understand the bots and play with them and conspire with them against us as they oh so like to do, because they’re kids and it’s in their nature to torment us to no end and I gave up to the sap I am and installed a simple – VERY simple – and very dog-like behavioral, recognition and learning core into him so that he could…do all that,” he says so fast it’s almost incoherent to his own ears and cringes, waiting for Bucky’s reaction with closed eyes. There are some expressions on his face he doesn’t need to see, especially not aimed at him. Like anger. Contempt. Disappointment.

Disappointment in particular.

He flinches away from the metallic touch against his nape at first, but a second later he finds himself wrapped in a warm, supersoldier embrace. “You couldn’t just tell me that days ago?” Bucky whispers into his hair, none of the emotions Tony was so afraid of anywhere to be heard in his voice. Instead, it’s…gentle. _Fond_.

Tony buries his head into the crook of his neck and holds on for dear life. “S’not ready yet, I wanted to test it first and…t’was supposed to be a surprise,” he shrugs but his brain quickly catches up with the silliness of the whole scenario. “Yeah, you’re right, I should have just told you. ‘m stupid.”

Bucky pulls away, holding onto his shoulders lightly and there’s that special, warm smile playing on his lips, so rare Tony could count how many times he’s seen it on fingers of just one hand. “You, my dear, are a _genius_.”

He frowns a little. “Well…if you say so. I mean uh, yes. I am. I know that I am.”

“Good. Because whatever it is that isn’t ready yet as you say? I’d say it’s not only ready, but also working.”

“Huh?”

Bucky turns around, bringing Tony with him in a sort of a half-hug. “You see, this little rascal over there woke me up after my exercising nap yesterday afternoon, bringing the collar with him meaning he wanted to go for a walk. So I got up and got ready to take a lil’ walk around the common floor maybe? But by the time I was at the door, he was in my bed, lying down to sleep. I dismissed that as…a coincidence. But after I showered he did it again. Pretended he wants to go for a walk and then just laid down on the floor, not moving a paw. And again _during_ and _after_ snack.”

“Sounds like a malfunction to me,” Tony frowns some more, looking at Tekno with concern.

“That’s what I thought, too. But then he _laughed_. Well, barked…but there’s this very distinctive, laugh-like barking? Our neighbors back in the forties had a Labrador retriever and whenever he was happy and having fun, he would bark _exactly_ like _he_ barked yesterday,” he nods at Tekno. “He laughed at me. After _repeatedly_ fooling me into thinking he wants to go for a walk, while in reality…he was just being a little prankster, isn’t that right, Tekno?”

The dog wags his tail, still sitting at the same spot as before.

“Oh,” Tony breathes out and immediately zeroes in on the three bots hiding behind the bench. “So _that’s_ what the four of you were plotting all morning yesterday!” And he thought they were just breaking up the bark-to-beep language barrier…silly him.

Both DUM-E and U beep in what Tony can only describe as innocence and yeah, he is a genius and yeah, the core is obviously working already.

“You little shits,” he shakes his head.

Bucky chuckles, wrapping his metal arm around him again, hugging him close. “Looks like they like each other,” he mumbles, both of them watching Tekno join his three big brothers behind the bench, barking at them and receiving beeping answers in return.

“Yeah…’s good, right? You’re not mad?”

“Oh I am mad,” he laughs, his chest rumbling against his. “Madly in love with my brand new dog, who gets to play with everyone now, thanks to you. Which brings me to being madly in love with _you_ , you idiot.”

“Heeey! You said I was a genius not too long ago!” he pouts, looking up at Bucky.

“In the tech stuff, sure. But you can be an idiot sometimes. When it comes to understanding things they don’t teach in physics. Like, why I wouldn’t be mad at you…for being you.”

“Me being me is usually what gets people mad.”

“Then let them. _I_ love you being you.”

“Madly, yes, you said that,” he smiles, wide and happy. “And I love you t - ”

Tony isn’t able to finish the sentence and then maybe kiss the other man senseless…because that’s where DUM-E sprays them with the fire extinguisher, to the beeping and barking cheers of their entire metal family.

While Bucky bursts out laughing, he slowly turns to glare at the bots and wonders what even is his life right now and what he did to deserve it.

And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

_~Fin_

 

**Author's Note:**

> [Imagine Tony and Bucky tumblr](http://imaginetonyandbucky.tumblr.com/) \- the holy shrine of all that is WinterIron  
> [My tumblr thing...](http://lantia.tumblr.com) \- if you wanna say hi (and agonizingly flail over Infinity War with me xD)


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